


22 Acacia Avenue

by MadAndy



Category: Iron Maiden
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-24 00:42:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6135595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadAndy/pseuds/MadAndy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now what? Did he call an ambulance, maybe get embroiled in something he didn’t want? Because if he walked away, this person looked as if they would die... and could he handle having that on his conscience?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part The First

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2005

The wind had that peculiar bite to it that you only get in England in November, that combination of freezing damp and icy, needle sharp blast of filthy drizzle that makes London such a pleasurable place to spend the darker months. Grimy rubbish blew around Steve’s ankles as he headed for the subway that lead to the bus stop, then the train station, then home. Thoughts of the game were running through his head - the ref was bloody blind, had to be, that was never a penalty, and that offside was just wrong - and he stuffed his hands further into his pockets, leaned into the evil weather, and walked a bit quicker. Sooner he got through here the sooner he was home, curling up in front of the fire with the missus and telling her all about it...

The cessation of the wind was a relief when he entered the underpass; he wrinkled his nose against the miasma that replaced it, the stinks of cold concrete and piss, overtones of vomit and human waste that always lingered around the grubby tunnels. Road noise roared hollow in his ears, and his footsteps echoed back at him from the graffitied tiles as he picked his way between the dirty puddles. A clean city London was not, but it was his home and he understood it.

Turning the corner to ascend the stairs he jumped back, cursing. The sprawled figure of an old wino - one of the city’s huge population of derelicts, lost and hopeless - blocked his path. He hesitated, casting a quick glance over his shoulder; no, this looked like a genuine collapse, and there was no hulking great sod looming out of the shadows to kick the crap out of him and rob him blind. 

 

He shuffled around the figure, took two paces and stopped.

“Dammit,” he muttered, and turned around.

The heap on the ground wasn’t moving, but there seemed to be some sort of rhythmic heave to the tattered hump of the back - still breathing, then. But the seamed and filthy face was pale, and there was a distinct bluish tinge to the lips. Not a good sign. Harry was no medic, but the collapsed derelict was in a bad way. That much was obvious.

He swore again under his breath, and stepped away as a gust of cold air brought the stench of the person to his nose. Damn...

Now what? Did he call an ambulance, maybe get embroiled in something he didn’t want? Because if he walked away, this person looked as if they would die... and could he handle having that on his conscience?

Shaking his head he stepped away, stuffing his hands in his pockets and thinking hard.

Dammit.

He had his mobile out and had his finger over the third nine when a very familiar voice touched him from the darkness.

“Why don’t we talk about this for a moment, Harry?”

He turned, raising an eyebrow. Lounging on the concrete steps, ragged shirt rapidly soaking through in the freezing rain, was the shape of the demon he’d grown to know all too well.

“Ed. Why? You taking this one off to--”

He cleared his throat. He still wasn’t too comfortable using the word ‘Hell’ around one who made his home there. “And anyway, ain’t you cold?”

Eddie laughed. “Cold? Nah. And as for this one’s soul...” he rose, and joined Harry where he stood looking down at the bundle of rags on the concrete. “That was lost a long, long time ago.”

The pair of them stood in silence for a moment, listening to the howl of the wind through the concrete tube before Steve shook himself. “So, can I call a bloody ambulance or wot?”

“Not a lot of point really. She’s beyond help - she’s dying, Harry.”

“She?”

“You can’t tell?”

Steve crouched again, looking into the derelict’s pale face and searching for anything in the features that might give the sex of the individual away. Eddie joined him, and ran one long finger across the woman’s face, bringing it to his mouth and licking the gathered moisture from it.

“Ed!”

“What? Like I said Harry, lost. Her liver’s packed up, her heart isn’t far behind... blimey, there’s more diseases in this system than in a medical book. All sorts of stuff. Hard to tell what’s going to kill her first - the cold, hepatitis, heart disease, hardened arteries, tuberculosis... got the lot, this one has.”

Steve rose and shook his head. “All very interestin’, Ed, but wot we gonna do?”

Eddie stayed down in front of the woman, staring into her face with an intensity that disturbed Steve rather. He reached out again, this time lifting wetness from around her eyes, briefly rolling the eyelid back so that Steve got a glance of the yellowed membranes beneath. He grumbled at the demon when he sucked on his finger, blue eye flames banked and thoughtful.

“You knew her once, Harry.”

“Wot?”

“Yeah. You and most of the East End...”

Steve shook his head again, getting his mobile out. “Stop talkin’ in riddles. Either say what you’re gonna say or piss off and let me call an ambulance.”

Eddie rocked back on his heels and grinned up at him, the expression containing enough evil to make even Steve shudder and turn away. Moments like this it was all too easy to remember what his friend really was.

“Remember Charlotte?”

“Wh-- oh. Yeah. But wha-?”

Eddie pointed one long finger down at the derelict.

“Oh fuck. No. Really? No...”

“Oh yes. Looks a bit different from the last time you saw her, eh?”

Steve moved to the woman’s head and crouched once more, this time searching for the features he remembered. Perhaps something about the cheekbones...? Nah, who was he trying to kid? He looked at the demon sharply, who raised his palms in an innocent gesture.

“Now why would I lie?”

“Because you’re a bloody demon.”

“Good point. But no - I just thought you’d like to say goodbye.”

“Fuck, Ed. Isn’t there anything we can do?”

The demon chuckled, getting up and moving to lean on the wall. “Such as? I’m not a healer. She’s fucked, mate. And she’s going to Hell.”

“Why?”

“You really want to know?”

Steve swallowed hard, and shook his head. No, he didn’t. Not really.

He sighed, and went to stand next to Eddie, taking some comfort from the presence of the demon. He’d often wondered what had happened to Charlotte, over the years; she’d been almost a local celebrity when he’d been growing up. Sometimes you’d see her, striding down the road in her high heeled boots, raven hair swinging half way down her back, indigo blue eyes challenging anyone who dared to look at her askance. She’d had an attitude that made every man look, every woman fizz with jealousy, every boy have wet dreams for weeks.

_But I’m not a boy any more, am I?_

“Long time ago,” he sighed, turning to Eddie with a frown. “So now what? We just leave her here? Come on Ed, you must be able to do _something_.”

The demon looked down at his friend speculatively. “Perhaps. Look, you stay here, and if I’m not back in five minutes call an ambulance for her, right?”

“Five minutes?”

“Yeah. I need to talk to some... people.”

At Harry’s raised eyebrow he laughed. “Oh come on now, Harry. Trust me, eh?”

Steve snorted in disbelief and moved to crouch near the dying woman’s head once more, listening to the echoes of the demon’s amusement blowing away in the gritty wind.

“’Ang on in there, girl. We’ll think of something.”

He wondered if she could even hear him, and if it really mattered anyway.

~*~

1972\. That was when he’d spoken to her last - he’d been fifteen, full of dreams of his band and so damn sure he was going to be successful. Right on the brink, he just knew it... all he had to do was find the right people. So he’d been spending an evening hanging out with his peers on a street corner in Leytonstone - something he rarely bothered to do - talking and laughing, getting the gossip and seeing if anyone knew anything he could use.

The first he’d known about Charlotte’s presence was when a girl with them - somebody’s girlfriend, probably, one of those amorphous bleached blondes with too much makeup that always seemed to be around - had hissed between her teeth, a venomous sound.

“There she is. Whore. ‘Oo the fuck does she think she is, waltzin’ around like Lady bloody muck? Makes me fuckin’ sick.”

Charlotte, strolling past loose limbed and elegant in a long trench coat, had obviously heard the plump girl’s snarl because she swung around and approached them, sharp heels snicking loud on the dingy concrete of the pavement.

“Oh fuck,” muttered someone, and Steve couldn’t be certain that it wasn’t him.

Tall, she was, and her eyes snapped cold fire in the odd yellow of the streetlamps. Her words, though, were mild; and even though they all knew she was a local girl - Harry’s mum had been known to hold forth on the subject for hours, as had most of the local matrons - her accent was cultured and smooth, not the harsh clipped tones Harry had grown up listening to.

“Evening lads. I trust you’re all well?”

She’d reached into her pocket, pulling out a pack of smokes and shaking one to the top, plucking the slender cheroot forth with long, slim fingers and putting it to her lips, all without acknowledging the stutters that she’d got in reply to her greeting. Full, red lips, Harry had noticed with a gulp, and from the sounds of breath being drawn in through noses all around him he wasn’t the only one. She arched an eyebrow at them, and allowed the corner of that sensual, sinful mouth to quirk up at the boys all standing open mouthed before her.

“Light?” she asked sweetly, and kept those impossible blue eyes locked with Harry’s even as half a dozen lighters were thrust forth, the flames quaking as their owners trembled.

The girl muttered in her throat, and Charlotte ignored her.

“I don’t normally see you hanging around with this lot,” she said, keeping her expression just this side of severe. Harry ducked his head, blushing; he’d never been eyed up with such frank appreciation before. He supposed this was what girls meant when they talked about lads undressing them with their eyes; he felt that she’d not so much undressed him as stripped him and thrown him on the bed, and he had a terrible suspicion he’d been found wanting. She smiled at the blush, amusement clear on her flawless face.

“Well, y’know. No. I stay ‘ome. Play me bass. Learnin’... well. I’m quite good. Not bad. Well.” _Shut up Harry you’re bloody babbling!_

“Ah, a musician?”

Somebody snickered, and the blush deepened. Charlotte swept that imperious gaze across the little gaggle of teenagers, frowning.

“Oh yes? And you lot would know, because you all spend your time hanging around here being so tremendously... useful.”

He flicked his gaze back to hers, and could have sworn he saw one long lashed eyelid drop in a swift wink as the others fidgeted and muttered. She stretched out a hand, lifting a lock of his hair and tilting it in the light; he froze, feeling the heat of her so near his face, catching a whiff of some exotic perfume, the front of his jeans becoming uncomfortably tight. She rolled the silky strand between her fingers, and the smile was back on her face.

“Lovely hair you have...?”

She hung the end of the statement in the air with a question, and it took him a second to grasp what she meant.

“Oh! Harry. Yes. Well. It’s Steve really but all me friends call me ‘Arry. ‘Arry ‘Arris, y’see.” _Shut. Up!_

“Harry. Well Harry, I must be going. Important appointment - which means,” she said, finally swinging that imperious, intimidating gaze to the girl who had first snapped at her in loathing, “that I’m going to fuck a man. Who is going to pay me well for the privilege of getting between my thighs... you should try it sometime. Might cheer you up a bit - and lord knows you need it.” She nodded at them all and turned away, only pausing to throw a quick “night, Harry,” over her shoulder and then she was gone, swinging her hips away into the gathering dusk.

Silence hung over the group for a bit.

“She fancies you, ‘Arry.”

“Cor, I wouldn’t mind a bit’ve that...”

“The slag!”

“Jesus, did you see that...”

Harry just stared down the road, and wondered if he’d ever have anyone so beautiful under him. The thought made him even harder, and he swallowed past a lump in his throat, grateful that the dusk hid the blush he was sure was burning his face. When he was rich and famous--

“Come on ‘Arry. There’s a band down the Cart And ‘Orses - they’re good, you’ll see...”

He mumbled and followed the group, the girl still snapping and snarling about the whore, and Steve lost in his dreams.

He’d never spoken to her again, although he’d seen her around a few times and she’d waved, once or twice. He often wondered what had happened to her, and if she heard his songs and what she thought of them and if she remembered him.

But he never forgot that evening, and the naive lust of a fifteen year old boy with big dreams.

~*~

 _It’s a long way to the bottom_ he thought, sighing with something akin to regret as he crouched on the wet concrete next to the woman. He could hardly believe that this crumpled heap was all that remained of the graceful creature he’d spoken to that night - but it had, his mind reminded him acidly, been a long time ago. And her profession wasn’t noted for being kind to those involved in it.

He could only imagine the desperation she must have felt as her looks faded, and the client list shrank. Must have been awful.

His musings were interrupted by the cool whiff of spices-and-sulphur that heralded Eddie’s return. He stood up - muttering as his knees protested - and joined the demon, who was looking very pleased with himself.

“Well?”

“I can restore her to full health and vitality and burn those nasty diseases out of her system, yes.”

“But? What’s the catch?”

“Harry!”

“Eddie.”

The demon laughed, flaring one blue eye in an evil wink. “It’s only for a limited time. Twenty four hours. And then she’s going to die anyway, and she’s off to you-know-where.”

“Well what bloody good is that?”

Eddie moved back to the woman’s head again, and pushed the hair back from her forehead with fingers that were almost caressing. “Because if she agrees then she can have a protector. Someone who can make sure she doesn’t suffer like your average damned soul.”

Steve had a good idea who, but he had to ask.

“Me,” replied Eddie with a grin. Steve snorted and raised an eyebrow.

“This is a good fing, is it?”

Eddie snarled. “Yes, actually, it is. It means she won’t get left to burn, or get ripped apart because its fun, or have to service more than one demon at a time, or be tortured just because, or--”

“Alright, I get the picture. So...what, you change her back, she makes her mind up and she gets a day?”

“Not exactly, Harry...”

~*~

Steve sat back on the couch and watched the woman prowl the hotel room, dark blue eyes missing nothing while she did so. Her eyes kept flicking between him and the demon, but she didn’t ask questions; she was trying to figure things out, and wasn’t going to speak until she’d run out of answers she could find on her own. Self reliant to the point of bloody mindedness, and he could appreciate that.

The last couple of hours had not been pleasant.

Eddie had waved his hand and growled some words in a language Steve didn’t know, and to his horror the body had been yanked upright by invisible hands, pushed against the wall to hang like a side of meat, tongue lolling and limbs twitching. He’d taken a step forward, a shout building in his throat, but Eddie’s other hand had swept him back with a whoosh of exhaled air; he’d leaned on the wall, rubbing the sore spot on his chest and glaring at the demon. Ed’s glance at him over his shoulder had been clear: _don’t interfere!_

Her head had jerked back, and she’d wailed. Steve swore under his breath, but managed to stay put; the twitching, convulsing body in mid air against the other wall was in obvious pain, and he hated to see suffering. Ed held one palm out, voice dropping a register and beginning to croon in that horrible language that he was glad he didn’t understand; she cried out again, but the voice sounded different, this time. Stronger. Which still sounded bloody horrible, but--

Keeping the palm out, Ed was making slashing motions with the other hand, fingers hooked into claws, and the rank rags were flying away from the form, torn away in shreds and tatters. 

Steve closed his eyes, and heard Eddie laugh in his mind.

_Wuss._

Whatever, he was certain he didn’t want to see the poor thing stripped naked while being held up against a wall by a demon, thank you very much. Still, the noises were changing now, and the voice - still yelling in protest - had definitely become that of a young woman, so he opened one eye.

And promptly cursed himself for a fool, but it was too late - he couldn’t look away now.

He got the barest glimpse of the naked body of the older woman, creased and sagging and filthy, before the invisible talons controlled by his friend bit into the flesh and it began to tear. She shrieked and writhed even as he tore great strips of skin and fat from her, flicking his wrist to scatter them across the concrete. Blood poured from the great rents in her body, splashing to mix with the puddles of icy rain, spreading across the wall in great, hose like arcs and Eddie didn’t stop, digging at the flesh, pulling and tearing.

Steve felt sick.

When he dragged those claws across her face Steve did cry out, but the breath caught in his throat when he realised that there was something underneath the faded, corrupted flesh that was being thrown around so gaily by the demon. Something underneath!

The face that was partly revealed was one he remembered, and the eyes snapped blue fire at her tormentor; he rumbled amusement beneath the evil words, and tore savagely at her breasts. She screamed again, and this time Steve did turn away. He’d heard of fat people saying that there was a thin person underneath but this... this wasn’t fucking funny.

Eddie turned her around, stripping the old flesh from her back in a few raking slashes before turning her around in mid air a few times, ignoring her struggles and shouting. Not bad, not bad... although she did need a damn good wash. He didn’t mind the stink of blood, but Harry did. He nudged him with a pointed, bony elbow.

“Harry.”

Steve still had his eyes screwed shut, and had wrapped his arms around himself in his distress. Eddie rolled his eyes.

“Harry!”

“Are you done yet?”

“Yeah. Have a look.”

First throwing a decidedly dirty look at the demon, he turned around to see the woman and swore in amazement. Dripping with blood and ichor she may be, but that was the Charlotte he remembered. Although the one he remembered actually seeing - as opposed to dreaming about - had had rather more in the way of clothes.

She’d stopped screeching and hung quiet in the demon’s grasp now, her own fingers wrapped around the invisible ones at her throat, glaring at Harry with exactly the same amount of venom she was directing at the taller figure. Steve waved his hands.

“Clothes, Ed?”

He made a tutting sound under his breath, swept his free hand at her and she vanished in a ball of dirty flame - drawing a shriek from Harry as well as howling in her own pain. She screeched in agony until the flames vanished with a snap of Eddie’s fingers, Steve suddenly realising that he was hanging from Eddie’s elbow and pleading with him to stop.

The demon eyed him fondly.

“You’re really just a big softy, aren’t you Harry?”

He stepped back and cursed. “Fuck you, Ed. That wasn’t necessary!”

Ed shrugged, and dropped Charlotte. She fell the couple of feet to the ground and landed lightly, crouching for a second and staring at the gobbets of twitching flesh that surrounded her with horror.

Any further words Steve may have had died in his throat as he watched Charlotte walk toward them. Tall she was, tall as he remembered, getting on for six feet; the eyes were alive, still sparking with anger, and although Eddie had provided her with jeans, trainers and - with his usual brand of humour - a Maiden t shirt, she moved as though she were clad in the finest evening gown. She stopped in front of them, cocked her head to look up at Eddie, then smiled at Harry.

And then she hit him.

He hit the ground on his arse, blinking stupidly up at the woman who had folded her arms and was glaring at him. Oh, and Eddie was about to wet himself laughing, leaning on the wall and bent double at the waist, roaring.

“What was that for?”

She sniffed at him, turning to Eddie and promptly kicking him in the balls.

Steve huffed in hastily stifled amusement as the demon joined him on the wet concrete, curled around his private pain. He nudged him with the toe of his boot.

“You OK, Ed?”

“No I fucking well am not,” came the muffled reply.

Steve climbed to his feet, brushing the worst of the muck from himself then offering a hand to Ed, helping him up. Eddie snarled, turning to glare at Charlotte where she stood near the steps, arms folded and glaring.

“I can’t get out, can I? Let me go!”

Eddie spat, the mucus catching fire where it landed on the concrete near her feet. Steve stepped back, eyebrows raised; he’d seen Ed angry but never like this. Mind you, he’d never kicked him in the knackers, either.

He made a mental note never to do so.

“That’s because I blocked the exits, stupid whore. Do you know who you’re dealing with?”

The last words rose to a roar, shaking the concrete tunnel until it boomed, bits and flakes of paint, dust and less identifiable debris showering down on them. Steve flinched, but stayed put and tried to look annoyed. She had a hell of a right hook, that was for sure, but right now he wouldn’t put any money on her surviving to enjoy her twenty four hours reprise.

For the first time he saw a flicker of uncertainty in those glorious indigo eyes. She covered it, though, standing hipshot and putting her hands on those well shaped hips, tilting her head back and glaring down her nose at the demon.

“No I don’t. So who are you, then?”

Steve fought down the chuckle that tried to erupt at Eddie’s shake of his long white mane. The demon sounded even more exasperated than when he was dealing with Bruce at his most stubborn.

“Never _mind_ who I am. You must remember the last few years, surely? Aren’t you the least bit curious as to what’s going on?”

She got that unsure look again, but covered it up so quickly Steve couldn’t even be sure he’d seen it.

“Might be hallucinating, mightn’t I?”

Eddie hissed.

“Come here.”

She didn’t move, eyeing them both with deep suspicion, and Steve was sure he wasn’t the only one rolling his eyes.

From his position behind him Steve saw Ed move his hands together and then slowly apart; all he could see was a faint blue glow between them, but it must have been something else to Charlotte because she blinked and began to move forward, eyes fixed on the space between Eddie’s hands, touching her face in disbelief. She made a small noise in her throat, then looked up at Eddie.

“I am hallucinating...”

He slapped his palms together, and put one long arm around her shoulders. “Now, why don’t you just come with us and we’ll tell you all about it...”

Steve rolled his eyes, and followed the demon and the resurrected whore out of the tunnel. He had the feeling it was going to be a very long night.

~*~

He’d managed to hail a taxi - not even attempting to think what the driver must be seeing when Eddie folded himself into the seat - and headed for the nearest decent hotel. A flash of his card and the three of them were getting comfortable in a suite; Charlotte still hadn’t asked any questions, and Eddie was too busy looking at the room service menu to have given her any information.

Steve just relaxed on the sofa, and let the insanity of the evening so far roll right over him. He’d rung the wife, let her know that something had come up - ignoring the dual snickers from across the room as he did so - dumped his coat in the closet and now he was just... waiting. For the next explosion, he supposed. Charlotte completed her prowl, grabbed one of the dining chairs and spun it, straddling it cowboy fashion and shooting Steve a very direct look.

“So,” she said, voice firm, “is one of you arseholes going to tell me what’s going on?”

Eddie’s head popped up above the shiny menu. “Ask him,” he said, levelling one long, bony finger at Steve. “He found you.”

She sighed, and cocked her head at him. And damned if the front of his jeans didn’t start to get tight, despite everything he’d seen this evening; she was a very attractive woman, and he was tired and his defences were, well, lower than they normally were. He put it down to being tired and a little bit stressed. And having fancied this woman since he was fifteen years old - that helped not one bit.

He ignored the snort from behind the menu. “What do you remember?”

She shrugged. “I think better with a cigarette. Got one?”

“I’d rather you didn’t--”

“Here.”

Eddie threw a packet across to her. She nodded her thanks, took one, lit it with a match from the book in the ashtray and tossed the packet back to Ed, who caught it without looking. Steve grumbled, and she laughed.

“So which one of you is in charge, then? The big ugly one, or you? You’ve got the money, I can see that...”

“Ugly?”

She cocked her head at him, with a wry smile. “Unique.”

“Better.” 

“Depends on who you ask. Look, I found you collapsed. And I was going to call an ambulance but Eddie turned up...”

She shook her head. “This is impossible. I feel thirty years younger - hell, I haven’t felt this good in I don’t know how long. And your big friend there showed me a mirror that--” she broke off, shaking her head. “It’s impossible.”

Steve groaned. “I know, luv. Look. Try to believe me, okay? You were dying. You’re still dying, actually. And when you die you’re going to Hell.”

She rocked back on the chair, eyes wide. “That’s a hell of a thing to say to a girl.”

Eddie snorted, picked up the phone and began to order food and drink. Steve just looked at his fingers and wondered if he could screw this up any worse. A movement beside him, and Charlotte had come to curl on the opposite end of the sofa from him, form elegant even in jeans and the shirt with Ed’s face leering out of it.

He tried to explain, tried his very best but even with Eddie adding comments - some helpful, some less so - from the background he didn’t think he was making much sense. Charlotte eventually stopped him, with a light laugh.

“Alright, enough! I get the picture. Not sure I believe it, but even so--”

Eddie interrupted them, having been to the door and retrieved his order from the waiter. He grinned, waving a bottle and three glasses.

“Champagne?”

“Please.”

“Eddie, how much is this--”

Eddie winked, and he subsided with a sigh. Least of his worries. Charlotte eyed him as Ed carefully pulled the cork like a pro, and frowned.

“You look familiar. Who are you both, anyway?”

He told her, and her eyes widened. “You can’t be, you’re just a--”

Eddie hummed and looked at the ceiling, while Steve took a sip of his champagne and let her think her way through it. This was the good stuff, he noted absently; Ed knew his wine. He just didn’t want to think about how much it was costing, or how he was going to explain it all. 

She sighed, finished her glass and rose. “Right then. Thank you gents, but if I’ve got twenty four hours then I’m off to enjoy ‘em. You’ve given me a flying start, so look me up in Hell sometime.” She snorted. “Hell. Right.”

Steve just sat there, stunned; Eddie was a little quicker off the mark, and beat her to the door. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“It’s my bloody dream, mate, so I’m going wherever I damn well please.”

Eddie sighed, and seized her wrist. “I was hoping that this wouldn’t be necessary. Harry, help yourself. I’m going to have to show her what’s going on the hard way.”

Turning his back on the pair as Eddie dragged Charlotte into the bedroom was one of the hardest things he’d ever done. He picked over the contents of the cart, eyeing the smoked salmon and caviar with disinterest as he listened to the yelling coming from the other room. He was trying not to think about what was going on, and eventually gave up and flopped back on the sofa, head in his hands.

The noise got worse, then the voices cut off. He heard scuffling, some muted swearing, then voices low in conversation; silence, some more shuffling, and just as he’d got up to pace the room the door opened, admitting a rather pale faced Charlotte who stormed right up to him.

“Is it telling the truth?”

He swallowed hard, and nodded.

“He is luv. Sorry.”

Eddie swaggered from the room and poured himself another glass of champagne. “Cheers,” he said to them both, and winked.

She sighed, pinching her nose and closing her eyes before giving herself a little shake. She looked up at him with a rather weak smile. “Suppose I need to make the best of it, then, don’t I?”

And with that, she joined Eddie at the cart and began to pick at the exotic food, laughing and joking with the demon as though she’d known him all her life. Harry stared, then scowled at them both; here he was ripping his heart out and--

“Not eating, Harry?” asked Eddie, with one of his blue-flare winks.

He turned his back on them and went for a shower, muttering under his breath and ignoring the laughter that followed him.

~*~

When he emerged from the shower he found clean clothes on the bed, with a note. He picked it up, snorting when he read that Eddie had nipped home and picked him up some gear - he could only hope that he had better taste than Nicko. The last time he’d picked some stuff up for Steve it had caused the most enormous row - as scarlet flannels and blue shirts did not, ever, go together.

Shaking his head at the memory he returned to the bathroom, shaved, then dressed, relieved to find only jeans and a t shirt; and if the jeans were a little tighter than he preferred these days and the shirt a little skimpier, he wasn’t about to complain. Hearing familiar sounds coming from the main room, he grabbed his brush and headed in there to see what was going on.

And stopped in utter astonishment.

Charlotte was curled on the sofa with Eddie, the pair of them eating crisps with dip and watching...

_Them._

Rock In Rio. And there were other DVDs scattered on the table, some opened, some still in their shrink wrap. Eddie turned his head and grinned at him, waving a beer in invitation.

“Harry! Charlotte wanted to see what you’d been up to while she was off getting fucked up, so I thought I’d show her. This seemed to be the best way.”

Charlotte jumped off the sofa and gave him a very direct stare. “Who’s the one with the sinfully long legs? I like him. And your singer--”

“Ah, Bruce,” sighed Eddie, sinking dramatically back into the soft cushions and licking his lips.

“Yeah, Bruce. He’s _cute_.”

“You should see him in a pilot’s uniform,” snorted Eddie.

Steve shook his head and sat down in one of the armchairs, pulling his hair over one shoulder and beginning to work on it with the hairbrush. “Well, sorry luv but you’re stuck with me and Ed. But I’ll tell Jan you said hello.”

She slinked over to him, took the brush out of his hand and began to work on his hair. “And Bruce?”

“Is busy.”

That laughter was doing terrible things to his libido, and his jeans were getting tighter. Especially since Eddie appeared to have forgotten the underwear; he flashed a glare at the demon, who munched on some more crisps and looked innocent. Damn him.

The brush felt good, though; he angled his head as she nudged him, and relaxed into the sensual feeling of having his hair brushed. Couldn’t beat it. Slow strokes from crown to ends - once she’d worried the tangles out - working across all of his long, auburn curls until he was almost purring. It was a small move from brushing to stroking, and he arched under her fingers when she began to smooth them across the back of his neck, kneading the muscles there and stroking across his shoulders.

“So I’ve agreed to Eddie’s proposition.”

Steve cracked on eye open and looked at her. “Oh yes?”

“Yeah. But he said something about sealing the deal. And he won’t tell me how.”

Despite the fingers smoothing across his shoulders he felt his stomach sink. Oh christ, what was the old devil up to now? Nothing good, he was sure...

Eddie laughed softly. “Harry, you’re a worrier. I just thought you’d like to hear it at the same time as she did.”

He opened his eyes and glared at the demon, relaxed along the sofa and still drinking beer and eating crisps. Charlotte snorted and leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“He’s not what I imagined a demon to be.”

The warmth of her breath curling around his ear made his cock jump inside his jeans, and he shifted away from the sensation. She laughed, and gave his ear a quick lick before returning to brushing his hair, the long, smooth strokes relaxing him again. Drat the pair of them.

“All she has to do,” said Eddie, through a mouthful of crisps, “is fuck us.”

“Right...” replied Steve, keeping his eyes closed. Sounded too easy.

“Both.”

He cracked an eye and regarded the demon steadily. Far too easy. Eddie grinned.

“At the same time.”

“What?!”


	2. Part The Second

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s a good job you’re not paying for this,” she murmured, teasing her tongue along the rim of his ear, “because I’m expensive for a start - and demons are extra. A lot extra...”

Eddie laughed as Steve jumped to his feet, knocking Charlotte from her perch on the arm of his chair. She stood back, fiddling with the hairbrush and frowning at him; he ignored her, so angry was he with the smiling demon.

“Apart from the fact I try and stay faithful to me bloody missus, I don’t share. Not anymore. Haven’t done for years and I’m not about to start again now!”

Eddie shrugged. “Sorry Charlotte. You’re on your own, babe.”

“That’s not fair, Ed...”

“Harry, I’m a demon. I don’t do fair.”

A soft hand rubbed his shoulder. “Please, Steve.”

“Not like I’m asking you to take it up the arse, is it?”

“I wouldn’t put it past you...”

Eddie laughed, and Charlotte sighed.

She stepped in behind him, wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. “Please,” she said again, and now her hands were smoothing over his chest and stomach, one creeping lower to fiddle with the button of his jeans while the other made a slow circle around one nipple. He clenched his teeth. Between the demon and the whore he was--

“Just agree, Harry,” crooned Eddie, having put aside beer and munchies and watching Charlotte’s hands closely. The edges of his eyes flickered with the red flames of lust, and Harry groaned as Charlotte’s long fingers did something to his hardening shaft that felt sinfully good. Eddie rumbled in his chest, running his nails along the outline of his own cock under the soft, worn denim of his jeans. Harry felt Charlotte’s warm breath tickle his ear again as she chuckled.

“It’s a good job you’re not paying for this,” she murmured, teasing her tongue along the rim of his ear, “because I’m expensive for a start - and demons are extra. A lot extra...”

Fucked. In more ways than one.

She rubbed her breasts against his back and kissed him under his ear, smiling into his neck when he shuddered. Eddie flared a wink at them, and she stepped back from him, pulling him toward the bedroom.

“No... wait... Charlotte, let’s talk about... Ed...”

“Come on. If you’re going to damn me to Hell and getting ripped up by multiple demons, the least you can do is fuck me first. This one’s for free.”

Eddie laughed to himself as his friend was dragged - still protesting - into the bedroom. Oh, he’d get his way. So would Charlotte. And Harry would see the funny side of it.

Eventually.

~*~

Steve was still protesting when Charlotte pushed him down onto the bed and stood between his knees, hands on hips and grinning at him.

“Am I that hideous, Harry?” she asked, taking her t shirt off and throwing it across the room.

He shut his mouth with a snap. Eddie had done a damn good job; the breasts now hanging at about his nose height were full and firm, pink nipples contracting in the cooler air and standing out, challenging him. No sagging, just those wonderful globes right in front of him...

She reached out and stroked his hair gently, trailing her fingers along his jaw and smiling at him. “You wanted these, didn’t you Harry? All those years ago... wondered if you’d ever have them, didn’t you? You dreamed about them. Thought about how they would feel in your mouth, under your fingers, pressed against your chest.”

Eddie. Eddie had a big mouth.

She was shimmying out of the jeans now, kicking them off her feet and standing before him naked. Not just naked, but gloriously so; he leaned forward, felt the heat of her skin on his face and groaned, closing his eyes as his cock tried to batter its way through his fly. So unfair. How could he fight over thirty years of wistful lust?

She caressed the back of his head and he nuzzled her, pushing his face into that warm, wonderfully soft skin, inhaling the scent of her and giving in. Lifting his face and putting his hands on her hips he licked a nipple, pulling it into his mouth and teasing it gently as she stroked his hair and made soft crooning noises, gasping as he pulled it between his teeth, nipping it before he licked the sting away. He moved to the other, giving it the same treatment even as he moved his hands to caress them, nuzzling between them and groaning, burying himself in her breasts and abandoning himself to the lust he felt running through his body, coursing along the channels of his mind.

She hissed, going to her knees and kissing him. Damn, but she could kiss, too; her lips were full and soft, her tongue tasting sweet despite the acrid tang of cigarettes, tasting and teasing him back as enthusiastically as he devoured her, hungry to find out if she were everything he’d dreamed of.

She pushed him back onto the bed, hands busy on the button and zip of his jeans; he sighed with relief when she freed his cock, lifting his hips to let her pull the clinging denim from him, sitting up and taking his t shirt off, dumping it over the side of the bed. Since he’d capitulated there seemed little point keeping it on.

In the other room Eddie grinned to himself, watching everything that was going on through both mind links - the one he had with Steve, and the one he now had with Charlotte.

_Nicely done, girl,_ he thought, stroking himself through his jeans as he watched - and felt - her go down on Steve with such enthusiasm that he yelped, _carry on like that and all the fight’s going to go out of him awfully quick..._

Eddie laughed softly and settled back to watch. Harry was--

He’d shuffled himself up onto the pillows, and was currently digging his fingers into them as Charlotte gave him the blowjob to end all blowjobs. She took him to the root easily, sucking hard and fluttering her tongue all the way back up, rolling his balls in her hands and--

“Charlotte, luv, if you don’t stop I’m going to--”

She pulled off him and crawled up his body, rubbing herself against him all the way and making him swear. Her skin felt as silky and sinful as he’d dreamt all those years ago; warm and yielding, she was, and she purred as she stroked his chest.

“Muscular, Harry. You’ve been looking after yourself, I see.”

He fought to catch his breath, grinning at the note of unashamed lust in her voice. “Thanks, luv. You do love your work, don’tcher?”

She chuckled, a deep, throaty noise. “I do Harry, I do. I always did. But time took its toll - so it’s great to get the figure back. And nice to have such a wonderful body-” she paused long enough to suck on a nipple, licking it then blowing a stream of air across it, “- to play with.”

He groaned again as she spent some time on his nipples, pressing his cock to his stomach with her warm, soft belly, wriggling along the length of him and driving him crazy. To his surprise, though, she rolled off him and lay on her side, propping her head on her hand and eyeing him fondly with those wonderful, impossibly deep blue eyes. He shifted his head and raised an eyebrow.

“Something wrong, luv?”

“Not a thing, Harry. Just thought you might like to do me the old fashioned way...”

He laughed, sat up and turned toward her. “Old fashioned? Well, whatever makes you happy.”

Old fashioned or not, he had to admit - as he settled between her thighs - that the good old Missionary position had a lot going for it. For instance, she could wrap those long, long legs around him as he sank his cock into her; he could reach those incredible breasts with his mouth, and he could feel every inch of her underneath him...

He tilted his head back and sighed deeply, closing his eyes and losing himself in the way she felt. Damn, but this was everything he’d ever fantasised; Charlotte, the woman who’d stalked his sleeping teenage mind and given him more wet dreams than he dared to think about, hot and willing and panting beneath him. Soft and curved and wondefully pneumatic, bucking and panting and crying out for him, contracting around his cock, tightening the silky wetness around him and driving him crazy.

Dropping his head, he varied his strokes, a few short jabs then long, careful strokes, letting her feel the whole length of him as he rubbed it against her, grinding their groins together at the end of every stroke, pressing her clit with the base of his cock. She moaned, arched beneath him; begged for more, harder, faster.

He obliged, grunting with each hard stroke and kissing her, pinching a nipple and rolling it between calloused fingertips. She cried out into his mouth, dug her heels into his arse and shuddered with the force of approaching orgasm. He broke the kiss and swore, pumping harder as she contracted aound him, crying out to urge him on, flooding him with musky wet heat, driving her hips up onto him. He growled between his teeth, felt his balls lift and his cock twitch, thrusts becoming jerky as he flooded her; white fire erupted in his mind and he bellowed, coming harder than he had in years - or so it seemed right at that moment.

They collapsed onto the bed, sweating, panting, trying to catch their breath. He rolled to one side and pulled her into his arms; she began to lace little kisses along his jaw and down his throat, lapping at the beads of sweat she found there. He smiled, sighed and tipped his head back; she sent little shudders through his body at the touch of those full lips, the gentle stroke of that talented, wicked tongue.

“Nice, Harry?” asked a familiar voice, and Harry groaned, closing his eyes. Charlotte chuckled into his neck before shooting a glance over her shoulder and winking at the demon.

“I had fun,” she said.

Eddie laughed, and Harry sighed. “Alright. Whatever. You want us to share? I’ll do it. But you might have to wait a bit...”

Charlotte flung herself on him and kissed him, squealing with delight; he kissed her back, grinning with affection at the woman’s exuberance.

“Good-oh,” said Ed, and stripped out of his clothes. Harry hooded his eyes and watched as she rolled over, beckoning the demon close and sucking the tip of his cock into that talented mouth. 

He had to chuckle at the sounds coming from the demon; he knew just how good she was, and wasn’t surprised to see the demon’s eyes flare scarlet with lust. Damn it, the sight of her smooth back curving away from him, the fall of glorious black hair caressing one shoulder, the head bobbing on his friend’s cock - it was all beginning to make him hard again, and he would have thought it would be hours before he could do so.

She pulled back, licking the head of Eddie’s cock and shooting the demon a wink before rolling back over and claiming Harry’s mouth in a slow, passionate kiss. He could taste something new on her, a taste that reminded him of the distinctive smell of the demon - all warm spices, with that underlayer of gunpowder - but muskier, somehow. Cloves and cardamom and nutmeg - and that was where the twining, spicy flavours lost him. Exotic and hot, the taste was, and his cock nuzzled her thigh and begged for attention. She laughed, and leaned back to look over her shoulder; the bed dipped as Eddie joined them, staying on Charlotte’s other side. 

_No need to scare him just yet,_ he thought with a wink to Charlotte. She laughed in return, and rolled herself over to give the demon her full attention.

Harry contented himself with stroking her back, running his fingertips along those smooth lines even as she kissed Ed, making her shiver with the slow loop of fingertips across her pale, soft skin. She moaned into the demon’s mouth when he caressed her hip, leaning forward to nip at the back of her neck, nuzzling into the thick black gloss of her hair. He could smell her sex, his own musk, Eddie’s dark and spicy signature all weaving into something that he was sure he’d never experience again; the three of them creating something dark and glorious between them that made his head spin.

She leaned her head back, resting it on Harry’s shoulder while her fingertips flicked and pinched Ed’s nipples, drawing a long, desperate sound from the demon that was somewhere between a moan and a growl. Pulling her leg to rest over his hip, Eddie began to slide the head of his cock along her wet pussy; and if it sometimes slid through to brush against Harry’s balls - pressed as they were against the soft swell of Charlotte’s arse - he didn’t seem to mind. They were sharing the same woman - so some contact was inevitable.

Ed smiled to himself as he caught the spike of lust from his friends mind. _Didn’t expect to like it so much though, did you mate?_

He did it again, rubbing the head of that huge stiff cock against the yielding texture of Harry’s balls, hearing him groan and seeing him claim Charlotte’s mouth in a brutal kiss. He pressed closer to her, the rubbing on his balls driving him wild; Eddie pulled back and slipped into the woman, inching in until he was balls deep in her, the soft black hair of her groin caressing the base of his cock.

He began to move, slowly at first, sighing when he felt Harry’s fingers collecting his own come from earlier and spreading it over her arse, slipping his fingers along the pucker as he nipped at her neck. Eddie sped up a little, taking his time and flexing his back to give her the full benefit of the sensations drawn from her body by his stiff, aching member. Harry’s finger made her jump a little when it entered her from behind; he soothed the small sting away with a kiss to the back of her neck, his hot breath washing across her sweat soaked skin and making her sigh into Eddie’s skin where she nuzzled against his throat.

Eddie pulled her tighter to him, crushing her breasts against his wide, cool chest and claiming her mouth in a ferocious kiss, Harry tucking himself closer so that the three of them made one organism, sweat running across them, almost unable to tell where one ended and the other began.

Harry added another finger, fucking her arse in time with Eddie’s quickening thrusts, biting at her shoulder, almost nuzzling into Eddie where he curled tight against her, senses filled with the sensations of woman, the scent of the demon and the lust rolling through his inflamed veins. He couldn’t get enough, and when he replaced his fingers with his cock he flung his head back and cried out, pushing in with a convulsive heave of his hips, barely noting the way his balls and Eddie’s now brushed each other with every thrust.

Charlotte felt another orgasm building, the clenching of her muscles making her deepen her breathing and dig her fingernails into the demon’s back. He laughed at her, speeding up until she could hardly breathe from the force driving into her and blinding her with lust. She could feel the two cocks rubbing together inside her, and the thought of those two engorged, weeping cockheads nuzzling at each other with so little between them tipped her over the edge. Eddie howled, pumping her full of his seed, rolling his hips to stir his cock inside her as she clenched around him, driving a mixture of his come and Harry’s out of her to flow over his scrotum, dripping along her and rolling across his balls too. He yelped, the clenching of her muscles inside and the wordless yell of pleasure driving him over the edge; he rammed into her, swearing between clenched teeth as his cock pumped semen into her arse, feeling the pulse just beyond the barrier of flesh that was Eddie doing the same.

Groaning, the three relaxed, Harry the first to roll away and lie panting, eyes closed, wondering if he’d ever feel anything that intense again. Charlotte joined him, murmuring with loss as Eddie pulled his softening cock from her. She sprawled, legs wide, shivering as the cool air of the room teased across hot, swollen flesh.

“I’m already dead,” she murmured, breathing deeply and watching the room spin lazily around her head. Harry chuckled, somewhat breathlessly.

“Me too,” he sighed, letting his eyes drift closed.

Eddie cocked his head as the two drifted into a light doze, sated. Humans! How little they could cope with...

He peered into their minds. Ah-ha! Not quite sated; the bodies might have shut down for a moment, but the minds still seethed with pent up emotion and lust, just lurking in the mental shadows, waiting for him to persuade them to let it out. But in the meantime...

The demon purred like a cat, and shuffled down the bed to begin licking the combined fluids from Charlotte’s body.

~*~

Harry drifted up from a warm, rose tinted Happy Place, lured back to consciousness by the delicious feeling of someone lapping at his balls. He shifted his leg, raising a knee, to give them better access. He was rather grateful; after the enthusiastic threesome he had been left rather, well, sticky. This solved that problem for him - for the moment - in the very nicest way.

A light kiss on his lips made him blink his eyes open, confused. If that soft tongue swiping over his bottom lip belonged to the beautiful Charlotte, staring into his eyes heavy lidded and relaxed from a distance of a few inches, then who was...?

“Eddie! Gerr _off!_ ”

The demon rolled aside with a laugh, dodging the ineffectual kicks levelled at him. Before Steve knew what was happening he found himself pinned firmly to the bed by two bodies; Charlotte’s warm curves pressing down on his left, Eddie’s cooler, harder bulk to his right. Wriggling was pointless; all it did was make her chuckle and Eddie grin, not to mention that the press of nakedness was making him hard.

Again.

His thoughts scattered, driven away by Charlotte’s soft lips descending on him once more, lightly at first then more demanding, her tongue snaking into his mouth and wrestling with his own. She drew his tongue into her mouth and sucked on it, lowering a hand to stroke his shaft with light, fluttering touches that had him groaning. It took him a couple of seconds - so intense were the sensations of mouth and hand - to realise that there was another hand on him, lifting the weight of his balls and running a rough finger pad on the sensitive skin behind them.

Before he could protest, or indeed try to kick the demon responsible, the breath was driven from his lungs in a whoosh of pleasure as Charlotte cocked a leg across his hips and sank down on him, pulsing her internal muscles as she did so. The grip-release of the satiny slick tunnel made him groan, buck his hips; she laughed, and dug her fingernails into his chest as she arched her back, lifting herself on her knees and fucking herself on him.

“Relax, Steve,” she groaned, sweeping down to kiss him again while never pausing in her maddening, slow rise and fall on his cock, “just lie back and let it happen.”

Like he had a choice, he thought. Thankfully, Eddie was staying silent; if it weren’t for those long, rough fingers doing such dreadfully stimulating things to his balls he wouldn’t even know he was there.

Steve lost himself in sensation once more, crying out when Charlotte dug those long nails of hers into his chest, leaning down to suck the reddened marks, sweeping her hair across his chest and face, burying him in the soft fall of night black strands. He pressed a handful to his face, inhaling her scent; somewhere between flowers and sex, with a hint of the spicy darkness that was Ed. And speaking of the demon--

He bucked up with a yelp, almost unseating Charlotte from her position; that rough pad was massaging her moisture around his arse, lubricating it and stimulating it, and the sting when it made it inside reminded him with a start just what Eddie was up to.

“Eddie!” he howled, wriggling to try and escape the slow thrust and twist of the digit. It was a point of pride; he didn’t care how good it felt - and it did feel wonderful, especially with Charlotte riding him hard - he didn’t want it there. Not Eddie, no way, no how, not ever.

_Oh, relax,_ said the demon into his mind, _it’s going to happen so you might as well just lie back and think of England..._

And then not only did Ed add another finger, screwing them with excruciating precision into his arse and hitting his prostate bang on, but the demon opened a little more of the link they shared. Not since he’d first encountered him had Harry ever seen so much of Eddie’s mind; and the boiling lust and desperate desire locked up there made him howl, slamming his hips up into Charlotte then down on Eddie’s fingers, fucking and being fucked. The pleasure he felt was reflected and magnified through two minds; Charlotte and Eddie tied together through his body, minds alight with the pleasure they were deriving from each other.

He almost missed Eddie moving into position between his thighs, after giving them a long, slow, teasing lick; he only realised what was happening when he noticed - through half closed eyes - Eddie rising up and nipping Charlotte’s shoulder, leaning into her and biting at her throat, making her squeal and twist on his cock. Thighs draped over the demon’s and mind still twined with that of Charlotte as well as Ed he could do nothing but swear when the head of that monstrous cock was nudged against the ring of muscle; lubricated by her flowing juices and his thick precum it only took a steady push by the demon, and it was inside.

Eddie leaned back on his heels, watched his cock slowly vanish into Steve’s arse with the aid of Charlotte’s enthusiastic fucking, then dropped his head back and howled.

Charlotte sank forward, rubbing her breasts over Harry’s chest and taking his mouth in a fierce kiss, biting at his lips and driving her tongue into his mouth, almost maddened with lust; she clung to him with knees and hands, Eddie’s titanic thrusts forcing Harry’s cock into her with more force than even she had ever felt before. The demon managed to encircle them both in his long arms, and leaned over at an impossible angle until he could sink his teeth into the back of Charlotte’s neck, his long white hair brushing across Harry’s face with every pounding thrust of his hips.

Any inhibitions Steve may have felt were long gone, swirled away in a combination of mental and physical stimulation; all he could feel now was the push and pull in his arse, the clinging, quivering heat around his cock, the skin rubbing against his own, the heat building in all three.

Charlotte lost it first, arching her spine and clinging to Harry hard enough to draw blood from his flanks with her nails. The pain combined with the hot rush across the head of his cock, the sudden snap of slick muscle tight around him sent him off, balls lifting and pulsing in time, his voice raised to join hers; Eddie’s roar wound around them both, his own orgasm tearing through their minds and boosting the levels of sheer, animal pleasure to pain level. The three writhed, shrieking and lost, unaware of anything except their bodies and the minds of each other, wordless and driven further than any of them had been before.

They collapsed, Steve managing to get out of the way before the demon rolled onto him; Eddie lay on his back, breathing hard, growling a little under his breath. Charlotte curled into the purring demon, and Steve was too exhausted to protest when Eddie’s long arm gathered him up and pulled him into the other side of his chest. For a while they were quiet, none of them wanting to be the first to break the spell with words, all content just to lie against each other, feel the aftershocks and wait for coherent thought to return.

~*~

“I need a shower,” muttered Steve at last.

“Why?” asked Eddie, and Charlotte swatted him on the chest.

“Because we smell, pervert.”

“I like the way we smell,” he protested, to the groans of the other two. “What?”

“We don’t,” grumbled Harry, unwinding Eddie’s arm from around himself and climbing off the bed, swearing as muscles pulled and arse screeched in protest. He ignored the demonic chuckling coming from the bed as he hobbled to the ensuite, Charlotte extricating herself and following, groaning in time with him.

“I dunno,” said Eddie, raising his voice so they could hear him, “anybody would think you two had never fucked before.”

Harry’s head poked round the bathroom door, and he scowled.

“Three times? My dick feels like it wants to fall off, you bastard. I’m not twenty anymore, y’know.”

With a flick of his middle finger, he ducked back into the bathroom and soon all that could be heard was the sound of water running, and groans of relief as sore muscles were massaged by hot water.

Eddie laughed, tucked his hands behind his head, and waited for them to return. He wasn’t finished yet.

~*~

Charlotte joined Steve in the shower, shaking her head ruefully when he cocked his eyebrow at her.

“Are you kidding?” she snorted, “I’m knackered. Literally. Just thought you might like someone to wash your back.”

He nodded, and they spent a very pleasant few minutes doing just that, soaping the stink and sweat from themselves, washing their hair, taking comfort from the gentle touch of each other’s hands after the frantic bouts of lovemaking. Once they had finished that, Charlotte leaned into Steve and shivered, nothing to do with the warm water flowing over them both; he folded her into his arms and sighed, stroking her hair and leaning his face into her shoulder.

“I’m afraid, Harry,” she said, her voice small under the thunder of the water on their skin.

He held her tighter, wishing there was something he could say; despite everything, the fact was that she was dying. And she was going to Hell - no worrying about if there was an afterlife, just a desperate effort to ameliorate the pain and suffering. No wonder she was afraid; he thought he would probably be crouching in a corner gibbering if it were him. He wanted to tell her that everything would be alright - but he couldn’t.

“I know luv,” he said, wishing he could say something more, “I know.”

The words felt inadequate, but he didn’t know what else to say. He closed his eyes, held her tight there under the fall of warm water and let the prickle under his eyelids become tears, washing away with the soap and the sweat down the drain.

~*~

By the time they emerged, Eddie was dozing, eye flames banked to a dim glow. Harry swatted him with the damp towel.

“Your turn.”

Ed sat up, propping himself on his elbows and frowning. “Me?”

“Yeah, you.”

Charlotte nodded, waving a hand in front of her nose when the demon looked to her in appeal. Muttering under his breath, he bounced off the bed and strode past them, pausing on the threshold.

“You’d better not have used all the clean towels...”

Charlotte laughed, and slapped his backside. “We left some for you. Now get!”

Grumbling, the demon headed for the shower. Harry laughed and shook his head.

“He must like you. I’ve never seen him behave himself like that before.”

_I heard that, Harris._

Steve laughed, and helped Charlotte flip the duvet over; after all, as she said, if they were going to crash out for a bit it was pointless to lie in the sweat and other overspill from earlier.

Settling back onto the soft pillows, he held her close. She sighed, snuggling into him, and began to draw lazy patterns in his chest hair with her fingernails.

“I wonder what it’ll be like?” she mused, not meeting his eye. He stroked her hair.

“What?”

“Hell.”

“Charlotte--”

“I wish I could have known you, Harry. I think I would have liked you.”

He sighed, and gave her a hug. He could agree, but what would that achieve? She was dying, and there was not a damn thing he could do about it. In fact - he glanced at the clock - there wasn’t much time left. In a little over an hour or so his teenage dream would be gone from the world forever, and he would never see her again. Nobody would, because she would be dead, gone, and in Hell.

He held her close, buried his nose in her hair, and tried not to think about it.

~*~

They were talking quietly when Eddie emerged, vigorously towelling his hair. Harry snorted.

“What?”

“Never seen you do that before. Summink so - normal.”

Ed flipped him the finger and perched on the end of the bed, immediately pounced on by Charlotte with a hairbrush. Steve chuckled to see them; the seven foot demon and the woman, wrestling the tangles from his hair and telling him not to be such a baby when he yelped.

Tangles dealt with--

“You have very thick hair, Ed.”

“That’s no reason to swing from it!”

\-- she began the long, slow sweeps that had so mesmerised Harry earlier. He rumbled, deep in his throat, and leaned back; she shuffled to accomodate him, almost having him in her lap as she brushed. He must have kept the link open, because as he relaxed into the sensations and his cock began to respond Harry’s did too. He groaned and collapsed back into the pillows, letting the demon’s sensual response flow through him; he’d thought he was done for the evening, but as Eddie had other ideas...

A bounce of the bed, and Eddie was stretched beside him, pulling Charlotte’s hips over his chest; she wriggled back until he could reach her, and drew the head of his now hard cock into her mouth, humming around it with every indication of enjoyment as she sucked the thick, spicy precum from the tip. Not wanting to leave him out, she stretched out a hand and began to stroke Harry gently, sliding her warm hand from root to tip, a quick squeeze and then down again.

Eddie’s tongue began to explore Charlotte’s pussy, lapping at the moisture beginning to flow from her again, teasing her clit before thrusting his tongue deeper than any human could ever hope to reach. She groaned, the vibrations causing Ed’s cock to jump in her mouth, releasing more of that thick fluid she couldn’t seem to get enough of. Harry began to wriggle; the handjob was all very nice but--

Eddie paused in his licking for a moment, tilting his head and eyeing his friend.

_Well, why don’t you join in?_

He blinked. How? It was all very well for Eddie, but--

He was interrupted by a mental image. It must have flowed through the link, because Charlotte gasped and shot him a look made up of sheer lust; she let Eddie’s cock slip from her mouth, and winked at Harry before bending her attention back to the straining member that nuzzled toward her lips.

Sitting up and watching the increasingly enthusiastic sixty-nine before him, he wondered if he could do what the other two wanted him to. He’d never done it, but then he’d never been fucked before, either; the demon’s lust was rolling through his mind and he was going to have to do something. But what if he hurt him?

Eddie’s rumbling laugh echoed through all three, minds and bodies. Charlotte squealed, pushing herself onto Eddie’s mouth harder, and Harry chuckled.

_I’m a demon. I like pain, you idiot!_

Feeling as though he were in a dream, he moved around until he was kneeling between Eddie’s thighs, watching Charlotte’s head bobbing up and down on his cock, taking him down to the balls then sucking back up, lapping at the head then doing it all again. She looked up, without breaking her rhythm, and locked gazes with him. He swallowed, feeling his own cock jump at the sight of Ed’s long, thick shaft vanishing into her mouth and - presumably - throat, her hand caressing his balls, the trembling in the demon’s thighs, and the moans emanating from them both.

Licking his lips, he shuffled closer, and reached out a shaking hand; Ed’s balls felt cool in his fingers, and the spike of lust that drove through the demon’s mind at the soft touch reflected through the two human minds, making Harry arch and Charlotte almost choke. Closer, draping Eddie’s thighs across his own, Charlotte pausing to watch, sucking and licking at the head of Ed’s cock, waiting to see what was going to happen.

He rubbed the pad of one finger against the exposed pucker, Eddie groaning; Charlotte wriggled and gasped, then nodded sharply at him. _You know what to do, now get on with it!_

Still he hesitated. He wasn’t a demon, and needed _something_ to lubricate his fingers with. Chuckling, Charlotte took his hand and pulled it to the end of Eddie’s twitching, trembling cock, rubbing his fingers over the tip and wetting them thoroughly with the thick, sweet precum that was dribbling from it. He nodded; that would do it, right enough.

Eddie bucked when Harry’s fingers entered him, groaning so deep that the dresser rattled, the vibrations shaking the bed; Steve fucked him with two fingers, then three, losing his ability to think as the demon’s passion swept through his mind. Still fucking him with one hand, he nudged Charlotte with the other, moving her gently out of the way and collecting another load of precum to slick his own cock with; never mind that Eddie liked pain, he didn’t, and the skin of his shaft was getting rather delicate after three very enthusiastic fucks.

He pulled his fingers out, replacing them quickly with the head of his cock. Watching - with something approaching disbelief - he pressed forward, seeing the ring open for him, closing again over his shaft. Charlotte grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him forward for a kiss; he tasted Eddie on her lips, dark and musky, making his mouth water and his hips buck until he was deep in the demon, the walls of Eddie’s arse gripping him tightly. He rose on his knees, accommodated by Ed wrapping those powerful thighs around his waist, and began to thrust, slowly at first; Charlotte rolled Eddie’s balls in her palm, shooting Harry a wink before going back to her steady rhythm.

The demon was beginning to rumble, pushing himself onto Harry’s cock, thrusting his tongue into Charlotte, losing himself in the pleasure the humans were bringing him. Harry closed his eyes, dug his fingernails into the grooved surface of those thighs, and began to fuck harder. His balls slapping against the crease of Eddie’s arse, the slurping and moaning coming from the woman before him, the rippling sensation around his cock, trapped in the cool, slick tunnel - he was going to come, and come harder than he thought possible. Again! He hadn’t felt like this since he was a teenager...

Still using one leg to pull Harry closer, Ed looped one calf over his shoulder, yelping into Charlotte as Harry hit that place inside him. He bucked and thrust, sucking everything Charlotte could give him, rumbling vibration making her cry out around his cock, deep throating and swallowing around him, clenching on the cock that slid into him ever faster, ever harder--

Eddie’s orgasm broke over them, a white hot explosion that roared through their bodies and drew them along with it, Harry bursting into the demon with a shriek and Charlotte arching up in delirium, taking the shot of the demon’s thick, scented come in her face and along her throat, dragging Harry into a savage kiss as they were both coated with the come that pumped from the end of the huge cock. Grinding his groin into Eddie he pushed forward, biting at Charlotte’s throat and licking Eddie’s come from her, the slick wetness on his body making it harder for the demon to grip him, Charlotte’s breasts smearing the thick liquid between them and trapping the end of Ed’s cock, letting him give a last thrust between their writhing, heated bodies, riding the last of his orgasm on a mixture of their sweat and his seed.

They called to each other without words, and fell into darkness together.

~*~

By the time he woke up, he was alone. He took a moment before he moved; everything ached, and leaping out of the bed to check on the whereabouts of Eddie and Charlotte was on the not-in-this-lifetime-chum list. Anyway, he knew where they were: they were in Hell.

He sighed, and closed his eyes. He’d been hoping--

“To say goodbye?” asked a quiet voice, and he opened his eyes to see Charlotte leaning over him, a sad little smile on her face. He raised an eyebrow, and she chuckled. “Must be a bit of that link left,” she said, and kissed him on the cheek. He reached out, cupping her cheek; she nuzzled his palm, kissed it, then leaned in for a much more serious kiss.

A throat being cleared interrupted them, and they looked up to see Eddie leaning on the doorframe, his seven foot figure outlined by the light coming from the lounge.

“Time to go,” he said, his voice soft.

Harry struggled to sit up, and she pushed him down again. “You need to rest, mate,” she said with a wink, and he had to agree with her. He felt weak, washed out; that last fuck had taken more out of him than he thought. Even so--

“Look after her, Ed,” he mumbled, eyelids scrolling down over his eyes despite his efforts to stay awake.

The last thing he felt was a caress on his cheek, the touch of the demon’s rough skinned fingers gentle, for once. “I will, Harry. Now sleep...”

And he was gone between one heartbeat and the next, as deeply asleep as he’d ever been, the exhaustion carrying him away.

~*~

Eddie escorted Charlotte along the rough street, trying not to chuckle as she eyed the ominous, wind carved forms of the red sandstone cliffs that reared up around them. Other demons trotted or slithered around them, and she had to swallow hard a few times at a few of the things she saw and heard.

“So this is Hell?”

Eddie winked. “No place like home,” he said cheerfully, and guided her past the sulphur pits, chuckling when she wrinkled her nose.

“Just along here.”

She stopped in astonishment when she saw their destination. “You’re kidding?”

“Nope. The old landlady retired to a condo overlooking the lake of fire with a very tasty little fallen angel - so the place needs someone to look after it.”

“Me?”

“You’d rather be my cleaning lady? I warn you, my place hasn’t been dusted for a millenia--”

Eddie laughed as Charlotte flung herself at him, hugging him hard around his neck and burying her face in his hair to hide the tears. He patted her back and shook his head; other demons were giving them sly looks, wondering what he was up to. He shifted her position, and flung her over his shoulder.

“Come on. I’ll even carry you over the threshold...”

Laughing, they entered the Whore Of Babylon pub together.

~*~

Eddie, knowing how concerned Steve was over the ultimate fate of his teenage dream girl, figured that if he left it for a week his friend would be suitably desperate for news. And it might make the final revelation a bit easier to bear, too. Not that Eddie was supposed to care about such things, but still. They’d been together a long time; fair was fair, after all.

“She’s _what?!_ ”

Eddie grinned, taking a long pull from his pint. The pair were seated in Harry’s own pub, in the cellar of his house.

“Pulling pints in _Hell?_ ” he asked again, laughing at the mental image. Eddie shrugged.

“She seemed to like the idea. And it’s quite a cushty little number; the business is hers, and she won’t want for anything. Hell’s not such a bad place, you know. Well. Not all of it, anyway.”

Steve snorted, then looked down at his own pint with a thoughtful frown.

Here it comes, thought Ed, and sat back to wait for the inevitable.

“Even so, Ed. The way she was when we found her...” his voice trailed off, and he shuddered. He couldn’t shake the memory of the collapsed wino, the sagging, destroyed form, the stench of disease and death that had come from the body. All that suffering...

Eddie cleared his throat. “Well. Got a bit of a confession to make there, Harry.”

Steve looked up, eyes sharp.

“She was dying, yes. In fact she was a very sick woman indeed.”

He paused to take another pull on his pint, almost feeling a twinge of guilt when he felt the betrayal down the link that he and Harry had shared for so long. Almost.

“She was also very rich. Business had been good, and she retired before she was fifty. She remembered you, you see... so when she knew she was dying she did a bit of digging. Sharp girl, Charlotte.”

“No shit?”

“Anyway. She found out about me, and she... well... she summoned me.”

Steve blinked.

“Yeah, all very embarrassing. What with nobody supposed to know I exist and all that. Still, she did, and then we--”

Steve slammed his mug down on the bar. “Cooked up a plan between you to tug on poor ol’ ‘Arry’s heartstrings, make him feel sorry for her?”

Eddie leaned back, cocking his head and flaring his eyes. “Well. Put like that--”

“And silly ol’ ‘Arry fell for it, didn’ ‘e? Stupid fucker, righ’?”

“Have you ever noticed that your accent gets stronger when you’re angry, Harry?”

“So you got yer fuckin’ dick up me arse - yer bastard - she got fucked silly and me, I... I--”

He snorted, turned away from the demon and shook his head, the long curls falling around his face. His shoulders shook, and Eddie risked a gentle pat on his shoulder. All he was getting from his friend right now was a roil of strong emotion, and that might not be a good thing. The last thing he wanted was Harry going off the bloody deep end about this.

He wondered if he might, perhaps, have handled it better.

Steve flung his head back and roared with laughter, dark eyes dancing with delight.

“You... you... evil old _bastard_ , you!”

Eddie hissed between his teeth with relief. “Crap, Harry. You worried me there.”

Steve’s shoulders were shaking with delight, and he slapped the demon on the arm. “Get be’ind that bar and get us a pint, you daft bastard. Did it never occur to either of you just to _ask?_ ”

Eddie snorted, and pulled two more pints, mulling the question over in his mind.

“Honestly? No.”

Steve accepted one, and they clinked them together in salute. “Next time, just fuckin’ ask, will yer?”

“I will.”

“To Charlotte!”

“Long may she pull pints, and flash a bit of leg to any demon who asks!”

They drank their salute, and fell to discussing the upcoming tour.

~*~

Down at the Whore Of Babylon pub, the finest place to drink in that corner of Hell - take a left at the lake of fire, third right past the sulphur pits, couldn’t miss it - the landlady pulled a pint of Old Horsewhip for one of the regular demons, and rang the bell with a certain amount of satisfaction. Never any bother, this lot, and she was never short of a fallen angel or two to warm her bed at night. She winked at the picture of Eddie and the boys she had framed on the wall, and called last orders. For the moment, that was.

“Time, gentlemen, please!”


End file.
